As Iowans make their final decision, King worries that Paul’s popularity on fiscal issues could overshadow his “blind spot” on foreign policy. “Our presence around the globe has been paid for by a tremendous amount of blood and treasure,” he says. “We are the force for security around the globe. If we had a commander-in-chief who pulled back military operations and brought it all back to the United States, and took a position that we would not intervene in foreign conflicts and only if attacked on our shores, there would be a huge power vacuum.”

“That giant sucking sound would draw in the Chinese, the Russians, Hugo Chavez, and others up into our shores and into the Caribbean,” King says, speculating on a Paul administration. “To paint an image of what I think it looks like under a Ron Paul presidency, it would be Iranian nuclear missiles placed in Cuba and Katyusha rockets in Tijuana. Neither of those situations would bother Ron Paul and that’s a calamity, that’s catastrophic.”